JP2000349809A - Method and system for correcting mail header in electronic mail system and storage medium recording this method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce setting mistake by facilitating addition and correction of transmission mail header correction rules. SOLUTION: A collation mail header extract means 21 extracts a mail header of a transmission electronic mail coincident with a mail header stored in a collation object mail header keyword database 31, and a mail header rule collation means 22 collates the mail header with correction rules stored in a mail header correction rule database 32. When the collation denotes coincidence with the stored mail correction condition as a result, a main header correction means 23 changes mail header information to generate a new mail and to transmit it.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for modifying a mail header in an electronic mail system and a recording medium on which the method is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the development of computers and communication networks, electronic mail has become an important communication tool beyond telephone and fax. Increasingly, e-mail is being used in offices to communicate with clients, exchange with customers, and communicate with friends overseas. In addition, e-mail news distribution services have recently appeared one after another, making it a valuable source of information.

In the above-described electronic mail, the subject (title) of the mail and the mail address of the sender are created and transmitted together with the mail text. Information such as the subject and the sender's mail address is added before the mail text in a standardized format. The information portion placed before the mail body is called a mail header. Usually, the mail program hides the mail header or displays it in an appropriate place on the screen, so it is rare to be aware of the mail header, but when sending an actual mail, all mail programs use this mail header. I have. Representatively, the keywords constituting the mail header include Date (date and time the mail was sent), To (address of the person sending the mail), From (address of the person who wrote the mail), and Sender (send the mail. There is a subject address) and a Subject (title), each of which has a meaning, is separated by a colon (:), and is further separated from the mail body by one blank line.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional electronic mail system, since the format for each mail header is defined, each line constituting the mail header is individually checked. However, mutually inappropriate settings may be made between mail headers of different keywords, and such a check between a plurality of keywords has not been performed so far. Therefore, for example, useless delivery is performed due to a setting error of the destination mail address or the like, resulting in an increase in traffic. Also, since no provision has been made to guarantee correct mail transmission without being aware of the header information, if the recipient of the mail transmission / reception is not in a Japanese-speaking country, for example, “From”
Usable means of selectively using two-byte characters in lines has not been established, and lacked flexibility and expandability.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. A mail header correction rule database is constructed and arranged to facilitate the addition and correction of mail header correction rules. By defining in advance a check rule that corrects header information that is easy for the sender to make mistakes, erroneous distribution due to setting mistakes is prevented, resulting in an increase in traffic and correct electronic information without being aware of header information. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for modifying a mail header in an electronic mail system capable of guaranteeing the transmission of mail, and a recording medium on which the method is recorded. In constructing the above-mentioned database, in addition to the correction rule, the number of times of application of the correction rule and the application time are accumulated, and the accumulated application time and the number of applications are referred to as collation targets in order of application frequency. When the correction rule is output, the correction process is speeded up, an e-mail that sends the e-mail header correction contents to the e-mail sender is created, and the e-mail is delivered to the e-mail sender when sending the e-mail. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for correcting a mail header in an electronic mail system, and a recording medium on which the method is recorded, which prompts a user to change the setting.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for correcting a mail header in an electronic mail system, comprising the steps of: In the e-mail system that sends and receives e-mails, a mail header to be collated is extracted from the transmitted e-mail, and the extracted mail header is collated with a correction rule defined in advance and stored as a database. When the modified mail header matches the modification condition, the extracted mail header is modified, and based on the modified mail header, the transmission electronic mail is updated and delivered to the other party. A method for correcting a mail header in an electronic mail system according to claim 2 is the method according to claim 1, wherein, in addition to the correction rule, an application time and the number of times of application of the correction rule are accumulated as a database and collated. The correction rules are output in descending order of application frequency by referring to the accumulated application time and application count as targets.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail composed of a mail header and a mail text between computers connected to a communication network, a mail to be checked is provided. Header keyword database, matching mail header extracting means for extracting a mail header matching the mail header stored in the matching target mail header keyword database, mail header correction rule database, and pre-stored in the mail header correction rule database A mail header rule collating means for collating with a given correction condition, and as a result of the collation,
A mail header correction unit that corrects the mail header information when the correction condition stored in the mail header correction rule database is matched, and based on the corrected mail header information when the mail header information is corrected. And a modified e-mail creating means for updating and delivering the transmitted e-mail. An apparatus for correcting a mail header in the electronic mail system according to claim 4,
The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an electronic mail for notifying a mail sender of the corrected content of the mail header is created,
It is characterized by further comprising a correction content notifying means for delivering the electronic mail to the mail sender. An apparatus for modifying a mail header in an electronic mail system according to claim 5, wherein the modification rule database is applied to the modification rule database in addition to the modification rule. It is characterized by further comprising a number-of-corrections / correction-time storage means for accumulating the number of times and outputting the correction rules in descending order of application frequency as a target of the collation.

[0008] The recording medium according to claim 6 is used in an electronic mail system for transmitting and receiving an electronic mail composed of a mail header and a mail body between computers connected to a communication network. Loading keywords from a database prepared in advance, extracting a mail header of an outgoing mail including the keyword of the mail header to be checked, and comparing the header of the outgoing mail with a predefined mail header correction rule Operating, and checking whether or not the mail header needs to be corrected as a result of the matching operation. If it is determined that the mail header needs to be corrected, the transmitted mail header is corrected and the mail is corrected. Creating a header modification notification email; and Repeating the collating operation by an amount corresponding to a header, delivering an e-mail including the corrected mail header to a destination, and delivering the mail header correction notification mail to a sender; It is characterized by. The recording medium according to claim 7, wherein, in the recording medium according to claim 6, the step of storing the number of times and the time of application of the mail header correction rule in a database; Sorting and preferentially providing frequently used correction rules are further programmed and recorded.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of modifying a mail header in an electronic mail system capable of providing a function of switching a header rule to be used for an electronic mail to be transmitted based on a predefined mail header check rule, and It features a device and a recording medium on which the method is recorded. According to the present invention, in the above-described configuration, the outgoing e-mail supplied via the input device is used to extract a mail header that matches the mail header stored in the collation target mail header keyword database by the collation mail header extraction means, The mail header rule checking means checks against the correction rules stored in the mail header correction rule database. As a result of the comparison, if the correction condition stored in the mail header correction rule database matches, the mail header correction unit corrects the mail header information. When the mail header information is changed and corrected, the corrected mail creating means creates a transmission electronic mail based on the changed and corrected mail header information, and distributes the electronic mail to the destination mail address via the output device. Also,
The correction content notification mail creating means creates an email notifying the email sender of the email header correction content, and distributes the email to the mail sender via the output device. Further, in addition to the modification rule, the modification number / modification time accumulation means accumulates the application time and the application number of the modification rule as a database, and refers to the accumulated application time and the application number as a target of the collation to determine the application frequency. By outputting the correction rules in descending order, the time required for the correction processing is shortened.

Thus, for example, the “From: i <watashi@my.domain.c
o.jp> ”matches the correction rule, if the country domain of the destination email address is“ jp ”, the From line is not corrected and the country domain of the destination email address is“ j ”
"p:" other than "From: <w
atashi@my.domain.co.jp>". In such a case, it is possible to automatically switch the From line by the destination mail address by defining the above-described correction rule in the database in consideration of whether the destination of the mail is Japanese or not. Become. Similarly, F
With regard to mail headers other than the rom line, mail header information can be appropriately set and sent. Therefore, it is easy to add and correct the mail header correction rule. As a result, it is possible to improve the reliability by reducing the setting error of the header, and as a result, it is possible to prevent an increase in traffic due to error mail distribution. In addition, the mail header can be selectively used when the mail transmission / reception partner is in a Japanese-speaking country and in other cases, and an e-mail system with high flexibility and expandability can be provided.

[0011]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus for correcting a mail header in the electronic mail system of the present invention includes an input device 1 including a program for receiving a transmission electronic mail, a data processing device 2 operated by program control, and a storage device 3 for storing information ( (Including an external storage device such as a large-capacity magnetic disk device) and an output device 4 including a program or the like for transmitting an electronic mail.

The storage device 3 has a mail header keyword database 31 to be checked and a mail header correction rule database 32. In the collation target mail header keyword database 31, character strings constituting a mail header composed of an alphabet and a colon (:) are stored in advance as keyword information of the collation target mail header. As a result of collating a plurality of mail header lines, a rule for correcting the mail header is defined and stored in the mail header correction rule database 32 in advance.

The data processing device 2 includes a verification mail header extracting unit 21, a mail header rule verification unit 22, a mail header correction unit 23, and a corrected mail generation unit 24.
And a correction content notification mail creating means 25. The collation mail header extracting means 21 searches the header of the transmission e-mail provided from the input device 1 for a keyword stored in the collation target mail header keyword database 31, and extracts a header line including the keyword.
The mail header rule matching means 22 checks whether or not the header row extracted by the matched mail header extracting means 21 matches any of the correction rules stored in the mail header correction rule database 32. The mail header correction unit 23 corrects the mail header that matches the change condition of the header correction rule by the mail header rule matching unit 22 to the change content predetermined in the mail header correction rule database 32. On the other hand, if the change condition does not match the header correction rule, the mail header is not corrected. The modified e-mail creating means 24 overwrites the e-mail header modified by the e-mail header modifying means 23 on the e-mail header of the outgoing e-mail to create outgoing e-mail data. The correction content notification mail creating means 25 creates an electronic mail for sending the contents of the correction made by the mail header correcting means 23 to the mail sender.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are views cited for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, and show processing procedures for realizing a mail header correcting method in the electronic mail system of the present invention. A flowchart and an operation conceptual diagram illustrating a specific example are shown. Hereinafter, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The transmission electronic mail given via the input device 1 is first supplied to the collation mail header extracting means 21 of the data processing device 2. Verification mail header extraction means 2
1 extracts only the line including the mail header keyword stored in the mail header keyword database 31 of the storage device 3 from the header of the transmission e-mail (steps A1 and A2 in FIG. 2). The extracted header information of the outgoing e-mail is sent to the mail header rule matching means 2
2 is supplied to the mail header modification rule database 3
It is checked whether or not the condition matches the change condition of the correction rule stored in Step 2 (Step A3).

Here, when it is confirmed that the change condition is satisfied, the mail header is changed to the mail header correction means 2.
3 and changes are made based on the modification rules
(Step A4). The modified mail header is
The transmission e-mail is prepared using the e-mail header that has been supplied to the corrected e-mail creating means 24 and has been corrected.
(Step A5). The processing content of the correction is supplied to the correction content notification mail creating means 25, where the correction content notification mail to be sent to the mail sender is created.
(Step A6). The above processing is performed for all mail header correction rules (step A7). The transmission electronic mail with the corrected header is supplied to the output device 4 and sent to the destination mail address (step A8). Also,
The correction content notification mail is also supplied to the output device 4 and sent to the mail sender (step A9).

A specific example will be exemplified, and the details will be described below. As shown in FIG. 3, the header information of the outgoing mail header before correction is "From: I <watashi@my.domain.co.jp>"
"To: anata@stop.domain.com""Subject:Hello""D
ate: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 14:50:01 +0900 ”, the keywords“ From: ”,“ To: ”, and“ Date: ”stored in the mail header keyword database to be collated from these header information Is extracted (Fig. 2
Steps A1, A2 and A3). Next, the correction rule for “From:” stored in the mail header correction rule database is based on the From line “Fro
m: I <watashi@my.domain.co.jp>'' and Fr
The om line is changed to "From: <watashi@my.domain.co.jp>".

Next, the modification rule for "To:"
To line "To: anata@stop.domain.co" in outgoing mail header
m "and the To line is" To: anata@start.domain.co
m ”(step A5). Since the From line and the To line have been changed as a result of the correction of the mail header, the contents are written in the mail header correction notification mail (step A6).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. The mail header correction device in the e-mail system shown in FIG. 4 includes a correction count / correction time accumulation unit 26 in addition to the configuration of the data processing device 2 of the embodiment shown in FIG. The only difference is that a mail header correction rule database 33 with correction result information is provided instead of the header correction rule database 32 shown in FIG. The correction count / correction time accumulation means 26
Each time a correction rule is applied, the time at which the rule was last applied is stored in the mail header correction rule database 33 with correction result information, and the number of times the correction rule has been applied is stored.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are views for explaining the operation of the other embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4, and show a processing procedure for realizing a mail header correcting method in the electronic mail system of the present invention. And an operation conceptual diagram illustrating a specific example. Hereinafter, the operation of another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The operations of the verification mail header extraction means 21, the mail header verification means 22, the mail header correction means 23, the correction mail creation means 24, and the correction content notification mail creation means 25 shown in steps A1 to A9 shown in FIG. Are the means 21, 22, 2 of the embodiment shown in FIG.
Since the operations are the same as the operations of 3, 24 and 25, the description is omitted here to avoid duplication.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the mail header correction rule is stored in the mail header correction rule database 32.
, Which are defined and stored without regularity, the search for correction rules stored later in the database tends to be slow. Therefore, in the embodiment shown here, in order to quickly search for a correction rule having a high application frequency, the application rule is stored in the mail header correction rule database 33 in order from the correction rule with the latest application time. The number of applications is also stored for each correction rule, and if the application times are the same, the correction rules are stored in descending order of the number of applications (steps B1 and B2).

Next, a specific example shown in FIG. 6 will be described. First, as for the transmission e-mail given from the input device 1, the process up to the extraction of the mail header keyword stored in the collation target mail header keyword database 31 is the same as the device shown in FIG.
(Steps A1 and A2 in FIG. 5).

The modification rules stored in the modification header information-added mail header modification rule database 33 are sorted in the descending order of the application time and in the descending order of the application number. Searches faster than lower revision rules. In the case of the outgoing e-mail header shown in FIG. 6, the processing rule “To: line processing rule 1:” of the To line is searched and applied faster than “To: line processing rule 2:”, and the To line “To: anata@stop.domain.com is replaced by "T
o: anata@start.domain.com ". "From:
"I <watashi@my.domain.co.jp>" is modified in the same manner as in the embodiment shown in FIG. The correction result of the mail header is overwritten on the transmission e-mail (step A5), and the correction contents of the mail header are written in the correction notification mail.
(Step A6).

The created transmission electronic mail and the correction content notification mail are sent in the same manner as in the embodiment shown in FIG.
(Steps A8 and A9). The mail header modification rules applied here are “From: Line processing rule 1:” and “To: Line processing rule 1:”, so the time when these two correction rules were applied and the number of times they were applied are the mail with correction result information It is stored in the header correction rule database 33 (step B1). Next, the sorting process is performed in the order of the latest application time, and the correction rules having the same application time are sorted in the descending order of the application count (step B2).

The processing procedures shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 5 are specifically programmed,
The data is recorded on a magnetic storage medium or the like or an optical storage medium such as a CD-ROM, loaded into the storage device 3 as needed, and sequentially read and executed by the data processing device 2.

As described above, according to the present invention, the transmission e-mail supplied via the input device 1
A mail header that matches the mail header stored in the mail header keyword database 31 to be verified is extracted by the verification mail header extraction unit 21 described in FIG. The collation with the modification rule stored in the information-added mail header modification rule database 33 is performed. As a result of the comparison, the mail header correction rule database 32
If the correction conditions stored in (33) match,
The mail header modifying means 23 changes the mail header information. When the mail header information is changed, the corrected mail creating means 24 is used based on the changed mail header information.
Creates an e-mail to send, and sends the e-mail to the destination e-mail address via the output device 4.

Also, a correction content notification mail creating means 25
Creates an e-mail for sending the mail header correction contents to the e-mail sender, and sends the e-mail to the e-mail sender via the output device 4. Further, the number-of-corrections / correction-time accumulating means 26 stores, in addition to the correction rule, the application time and the number of times of application of the correction rule as a database in the mail header correction database 33 with the correction result information, and stores the data as an object of comparison. By referring to the applied time and the number of times of application and outputting correction rules in descending order of application frequency, the time required for correction processing is increased. This makes it easy to add and modify the mail header modification rule. As a result, it is possible to reduce header setting errors and improve reliability, thereby preventing an increase in traffic due to error mail distribution. In addition, the mail header can be selectively used when the mail transmission / reception partner is in a Japanese-speaking country and in other cases, and an e-mail system with high flexibility and expandability can be provided.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, by arranging the mail header correction rule database outside the electronic mail system, the addition and correction of the mail header correction rules are facilitated. In addition, by defining a check rule for correcting header information that is easily misunderstood by the mail sender, it is possible to reduce mistakes in setting a destination mail address and prevent an increase in traffic due to error mail distribution. Furthermore, correct mail transmission can be assured by the person to whom the mail sender transmits and receives the mail, without being aware of the header information. For example, From
By defining a modification rule such as using or not using double-byte characters such as Japanese notation in the line, From-mail is automatically sent to the sender and receiver when the sender / receiver is in Japanese-speaking countries. It is possible to use different lines. In addition, by notifying the mail sender of the contents of the mail header correction, it is possible to prompt the user to change the setting at the time of sending the mail. Further, as a database, in addition to the above-described correction rule, by accumulating the application time and the number of application times of the correction rule, referring to the accumulated application time and the number of application times as targets of collation, and correcting the application frequency in descending order of application frequency. By outputting the rules, the effect of shortening the time required for the correction processing can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an operation conceptual diagram illustrating a specific example of the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an operation conceptual diagram illustrating a specific example of the operation of another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input device 2 ... Data processing device 3 ... Storage device 4 ... Output device 21 ... Verification mail header extraction means 22 ... Mail header rule verification means 23 ... Mail header correction means 24 ... Correction mail creation means 25 ... Preparation of correction content notification mail Means 26: Correction count / correction time storage means 31: Mail header keyword database to be checked 32: Mail header correction rule database 33: Mail header correction rule database with correction result information

Claims (7)

[Claims] An e-mail system for transmitting / receiving an e-mail including a mail header and a mail text between computers connected to a communication network, extracts a mail header to be collated from the transmitted e-mail, and extracts the extracted mail header. The mail header is compared with a correction rule defined in advance and stored as a database, and when the correction condition is met, the extracted mail header is corrected, and the transmission is performed based on the corrected mail header. A method of modifying a mail header in an electronic mail system, which updates an electronic mail and distributes it to a partner. 2. In addition to the correction rule, the application time and the number of applications of the correction rule are stored in a database, and the stored application time and the number of applications are referred to as collation targets, and the correction rules are referred to in descending order of application frequency. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the e-mail header is output. 3. An e-mail system for transmitting / receiving an e-mail composed of a mail header and a mail text between computers connected to a communication network, wherein a mail header keyword database to be checked and a mail header keyword database stored in the mail header keyword database to be checked. Verification mail header extraction means for extracting a mail header that matches the mail header being read, a mail header correction rule database, and a mail header rule verification means for verifying correction conditions stored in advance in the mail header correction rule database As a result of the comparison, if the correction condition stored in the mail header correction rule database is matched, a mail header correction unit that corrects the mail header information, and if the mail header information is corrected, Modified email A correction device for a mail header in an electronic mail system, comprising: a correction mail creating means for updating and delivering a correction electronic mail based on header information. 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an e-mail for notifying a mail sender of the contents of said mail header correction, and distributing the e-mail to the mail sender. A device for correcting a mail header in an electronic mail system according to Claim 1. 5. The correction rule database according to claim 1,
In addition to the correction rule, the method further includes a correction frequency / correction time accumulation unit that accumulates an application time and an application frequency of the correction rule and outputs the correction rule in descending order of application frequency as a target of the collation. An apparatus for correcting a mail header in the electronic mail system according to claim 3. 6. An e-mail system for transmitting / receiving an e-mail composed of a mail header and a mail body between computers connected to a communication network, wherein a keyword of a mail header to be checked is obtained from a database prepared in advance. Loading, extracting a mail header of the outgoing mail including the keyword of the mail header to be checked, collating the header of the outgoing mail with a pre-defined mail header modification rule, As a result, the step of checking whether or not the mail header needs to be corrected, and, if it is determined that the mail header needs to be corrected, the step of correcting the transmitted mail header and generating the mail header correction notification mail And the amount corresponding to the mail header to be compared A recording medium in which a step of repeating a collation operation and a step of delivering an electronic mail including a corrected mail header to a destination and delivering the mail header correction notification mail to a sender are programmed and recorded. 7. The step of accumulating the number of times of application of the mail header correction rule and the time of application in the database, and sorting the correction rules in the order of the time of application and the number of times of application of the rule to preferentially provide the most frequently used correction rules. 7. The recording medium according to claim 6, wherein the steps are further programmed and recorded.